The massive form of the Plague God popped up into view, taking his attention off the invasion below. By now, he'd noticed that they weren't making any progress. He couldn't feel the infestations taking root in the ship and there were no service hatches, lifts, or hangar bays anywhere for his forces to infiltrate through. It had really puzzled him as to what lunatic designed such a massive area for a ship. It would make the only bit of sense if this wide open area was used to ferry in traffic.
His form appearing on the bridge of this confounding ship would have let him think the Xeno was surrendering but even she must have noticed, like he did, his zero progress in infesting her station. He'd never come across ship material as dense and impenetrable to such things as microscopic metal rotting spores.
"Hello, Typhus," the frustrating woman greeted so casually. "I have humored his presence within my ship long enough. Being the first enemies to actually ever step foot onto Outer Heaven's glorious frame would have been an accomplishment unheard of in our native space due to the sheer amount of dangers involved in accomplishing it. Unfortunately for you, your presence here was because I allowed it. You see, you're right about being within my ship, but I believe you've noticed by now that something is amiss."
Obviously, but at least either his or her ship's translator fixed the glitches in her words.
"You were probably expecting this to be a massive port area for ships to make berths due to its open space and size, but the truth is quite simple. So simple in fact that it will be beyond your comprehensive skills for several moments. You are within my ship. More specifically, you're within the barrel of my ship's main cannon, the Grateful Sun Ray, that has currently been charged almost to the point of instability while your armies were meandering down there. You were never a threat since your arrival, Typhus."
Typhus, as she predicted, was understandably having a mental crash as he tried to comprehend the insane and outrageous revelation. Looking around at the previous points of interest during this attempt at infection, he was able to put the dots together.
A massive tunnel of open space.
No signs of lifts or hangars for ships or service crews. In fact, no signs of ship activity at all despite an enemy fleet appearing within it.
This woman's lackadaisical and flippant attitude towards his horrifying presence appearing within her ship.
That's because he was within an even more horrifying presence, a massive cannon the size of a narrow country or small continent!
He desperately went into action, checking all of his ship's scanning equipment thanks to his symbiotic relationship with the daemon vessel. His sensorium couldn't penetrate a foot into such dense materials around him and none of his fleet had any better luck. Now that he looked behind his vessel, he recognized something inherently wrong with the Warp rift.
It wasn't a warp rift at all. The colors were all wrong and his scanners were indicating a tremendous amount of gravitational pull within the funnel that would have stretched and crushed his fleet to atoms had their void shields not been on, something that had been an instinct for him despite his terrifying powers gifted by Nurgle.
The Xeno woman had a smile on her face as he finally realized he was in an inescapable position. He could make a run for that strange wormhole but he remembered her words. This was a single cannon, which usually fired a bullet or beam. If she pulled the trigger, there was no chance he could even dodge since he was even closer than point blank range. Ten thousand years of experience could not ever have prepared him for such an ambush.
He and his forces were completely at this woman's mercy. A shell fitted for this cannon would be bigger than a small country, larger than any ship save a Space Hulk which could definitely fit snugly in this barrel. Such a weapon could wipe out entire planets with an ease that was just hilariously stupid in comparison to Exterminatus-level weapons of the Imperium. Given that he couldn't really see the back of the cannon meant that it must have an astronomical range, possibly from one end of a solar system to another.
With an understated look of anger under his helmet, he sat down on his throne with a sense of foreboding and doom. Sure, his soul belonged to Nurgle, as such, even if this shell of his died, it'd be a long time before he could come back. The average was around a thousand years among most Daemon Princes for failing their patrons. He ordered his armies to halt and the fleet to stop their pitiful attempts of damaging this massive vessel. If this was the main cannon, he could only imagine the size of this ship matching or eclipsing the Necron World Engine that took the sacrifice of entire fleets and an entire Astartes Chapter to destroy. Unfortunately, he was in the absolute worst place possible with no point of entry and his teleport homer couldn't lock on to any area within this ship to send troops or himself unlike back during the battle against the world engine once its Void Shields were momentarily down.
He took the moment of silence to contemplate the events. A massively powerful psyker of an unknown Xeno race was in command of the most massive vessel he's ever seen or heard of, who utilizes A.I. to help run the ship if not much more, and her very calm attitude towards his presence so close to her spoke of either ignorance or absolute confidence (he was leaning towards the latter now), and apparently the initial attempt by his patron and his fellow Chaos Gods to corrupt such a being put them all on her shit list, with him now literally staring down the barrel of the most potentially powerful weapon ever seen in this galaxy.
For the first time ever since his corruption, he felt that he wasn't being paid enough for this job.
With a sigh, he addressed the infuriating woman.
"Do you expect me to beg for my life, woman? If so, you will be disappointed. While my body may die, my soul belongs to Nurgle. You have swiped away the whispers of the Chaos Gods, your ship has defied my onslaught and the Destroyer Plague, and you have me cornered at every angle. Even if you destroy me, Father Nurgle will not let his favored champion drift through the Afterlife after such an insult against his abilities."
Yggdra gave a smile similar to a cat that ate the canary. "Despite being a soulless suit of rotting armor, you still retain enough intelligence to know when you're beaten. How about this: you barter for the existence of your un-life and that of your ship's. Make no mistake, your fleet will be destroyed, along with this Dark Mechanicum world on the other side of that rift, as well as an area estimated around 23,000,000,000 miles in diameter*, enough to swallow an entire solar system. However, I'm certain your ship and your leadership will be needed by Nurgle after such an attack. You can barter for you and your ship's life, or simply die with everyone else."
Typhus, when he heard the destructive capability of this cannon, felt all of his puss sores dry up and shrivel. Even his ship expressed an unusual emotional surge as being hit point blank by such a weapon. To him, an intelligence tempered from countless battles, the answer was obvious.
"How do I know you would keep your world?" he asked cautiously. The loss of this ship and his leadership would invite chaos (pun not intended) onto Nurgle's doorsteps from their rivals of Tzeentch.
"You wouldn't if I wasn't generous," she replied and he kept himself from scoffing, but it was true. He was the aggressor here. "What will you offer? I care not for slaves as they would simply be food for thought (Frigga gave a deadpanned, leveled stare at Yggdra's pun), nor do I care for weapons of your warp corruption since those have a history of misbehaving. What could you offer that would be a benefit to a society who is constantly progresses with no such things as morals or economies to hamper them like so many do?"
She tweaked the truth a little, after all, the Valkyrians do have some morals, as self-serving as they are, but Typhus and their future audiences didn't need to know that. Morals are weaknesses to those who have none.
Typhus felt this woman would have become a Champion of Tzeentch in no time. She manipulated his arrival to be within the barrel of an apocalyptic cannon, held him at gun point, and is manipulating him into bartering for his life.
"You seem to know a lot about us in certain aspects. What do you have a preference for?"
She giggled. "The Imperium of Mankind seems like a group that will be fun to play a game with. Perhaps something that could help our introduction into this exciting galaxy?"
If he didn't know better, he was sure she knew of the artifact he had on his ship but he'd just picked it up and there was no way she could have known. Not that he knew of. Unfortunately, one thing that slipped his mind is how she knew of the Dark Mechanicum world beyond the rift. Since it did slip his mind due to extenuating circumstances, he considered her words and would certainly let out a dark chuckle of mocking pity for the Imperium when they would face this species because of his actions. That can wait after he retreats.
"I have a few things. One in particular would be sought after by some of the toughest soldiers in the Imperium should they learn of its whereabouts and it has withstood the corruption of the Dark Mechanicum for thousands of years. If I bend the negotiation a bit, to give you a different target, I would give you something of greater value, that being the body of its owner that I've kept as a trophy."
She curled an eyebrow, her pink eye glinting in intrigue. "And you would part with such a trophy for your own life? What would this new target be?" She normally wouldn't bother but it's not often she is given a chance to deal with such an unknown adversary.
"A Crystal Labyrinth world that is one of the main worlds of the Chaos God, Tzeentch. While my God is that of natural decay, rot, and stagnation, Tzeentch is that of progress, scheming, and sorcery. They are polar opposites and have been rivals since time immemorial. You allow me to contact Nurgle and let him open a rift passage aiming at Tzeentch's most prized world, I will fulfill my barter and leave my fleet and the crystal world to your 'mercies.'"
Typhus certainly hoped she would accept. While the loss of his trophy would be a huge loss to his pride, the insult to Nurgle shown by this woman's ship would be forgiven a thousand times if she were to bring Tzeentch down a few million pegs. She would even become something similar to an Avatar of Nurgle had she the desire; such would be the gratitude from the Father Nurgle.
She thought about it and quickly accepted with a nod. It wasn't often she got to play a game of politics on a scale larger than that of a few planets. Pitting "Chaos Gods" against one another? It sounded like a grand game.
"Very well, on one condition, and that will be a simple favor in the future when we are fully prepared to be involved in this galaxy's never-ending warfare. It helps convince me of your deal since this Tzeentch sounds like the one who tried to convince me of betrayal by my people and to kill my own daughter."
"That is Tzeentch. He always manipulates and schemes. He has so many plans and motions setting forth that they often times contradict one another with no end in sight. He claims that he has threads of fate manipulated to every being in this galaxy. Should your cannon be as powerful as you say, our plan will not be prepared for. This will be a stab to the face he'll never see coming."
She gave a soft laugh at such a ridiculous being actually existing. Honestly, she would have done this on principle!
"Very well. I will have your word on this. Swear on your title and position in the service of this Nurgle and I will dissipate the wormhole. You will contact your God and make the deal. When it is done, I will teleport to your bridge myself to collect my prize. Once I have it and you move from the muzzle of the cannon, I will teleport back and fire the Grateful Sun Ray. Afterwords, you may leave. Do we have an accord, Typhus, Herald of Nurgle?"
Despite the alarming eyes pointed at her by her people, they knew she could take care of herself and that should she be betrayed, that abominable ship wouldn't last a minute should she unleash her wrath upon Typhus.
Typhus found himself grinning and feeling very relieved at saving his own ship. It wouldn't take long to explain the plan to his patron and the God would surely love to stick it to the know-it-all Tzeentch. "I swear upon my name and position to uphold this deal. If you would?"
With a wave of her hand, the blue and black Einstein-Rosen bridge faded away to reveal the far away warp rift. With that anomaly out of the way, he could finally reconnect with his God. It didn't take but a few seconds to share his knowledge of this meeting with Nurgle who laughed in joy and surprise at the situation and irony that Tzeentch was about to be hit by a scheme he wouldn't expect.
There were notable changes in the Warp rift and massive energy fluctuations that the Outer Heaven's sensors detected and tracked. When his form appeared on the bridge, he nodded and the woman stood, giving her baby to the black-clothed beauty and disappeared in a pink flash. His connection ended as a pink flash illuminated his command bridge and there the woman was.
Her size was a slight surprise as she stood up to his chest plate at almost eight feet. The deteriorating state of his ship didn't seem to bother her, impressing him, and he even saw a pool of puss under her feet sizzling away just from contact. It was a thing to note for later. With a wave of his hand, the floor of the ship rippled like water as two objects in black boxes were raised up.
"Having such an aforementioned artifact and trophy hidden right by your throne? A clever choice, Typhus," she spoke and he swore he would have fallen for her charm had such petty emotions not been rotted out of him due to his training and corruption.
He opened the smaller box and in sat a pristine, golden colored chainsword about five feet in length. It weighed about 500 pounds by itself and could only be effectively wielded by a Primarch, like the one it belonged to. To his surprise, she lifted it up with one hand like it weighed nothing but a feather. With a few experimental swings that parted the gaseous atmosphere on his vessel, she confirmed her strength and he found himself noting to not be surprised by this woman anymore. If her species had such strength for their sizes, they were on par with Space Marines, and a whole species of them brought a shiver down his rotting spine.
"A very fine weapon. How did you come across this and the owner?" She laid the weapon back down and walked over to the larger black box, a coffin for one of Typhus greatest foes and greatest heroes of the Imperium.
"It's called the 'Storm's Teeth'. The owner was sucked into a summoned warp storm when fighting Abaddon the Despoiler on the bridge of the corrupted Despoiler-class battleship, back during the 1st Black Crusade. Cast into the warp, caught off from his Imperial Fist Astartes, he was injured and dumped onto this very bridge. He still fought like a demigod as expected but it was a battle of endurance and due to his surroundings, he eventually weakened enough for me to drive my scythe into his chest. Even in such conditions, he nearly killed me, and despite my victory, I have refused to work with Abaddon unless commanded by my God."
That was Typhus' greatest victory and most narrowed one as well. Such was the power of a Primarch.
"What was this warrior's name?" she asked in curiosity as a human who could fight and nearly kill a being as large as Typhus while wounded had to be more impressive. She opened the cask and beheld the form of a massive male human covered in gold and copper-colored armor of gargantuan size. Besides several gashes and a huge puncture wound to his chest and his hand missing, the only features she could see of his actual body were the tanned skin, scarred face with numerous scars, and head of shock white hair.
"His name was Primarch Rogal Dorn, leader of one of the most powerful legions of Space Marines made by the God-Emperor of Mankind, the Imperial Fist. With his body and sword, you could demand almost anything from the Imperium should they not simply attempt to strike you down due to their understandable case of xenophobia. There's not a species in this galaxy who hasn't betrayed or tried to destroy Humanity."
Yggdra felt a malicious smile creep up her face and she didn't bother hiding it. So many ideas flitted through her head. This only confirmed Typhus thoughts concerning the Imperium.
Placing two magnetic objects on the cases, they blinked before disappearing in a pink flash. Yggdra turned towards the view port, gazing at her own ship and could understand why Typhus could feel helpless when he found out this "station" he was floating in was just the massive main cannon. He got a measure of respect from her for keeping his calm.
"I would ask you to add information about the species such as the Humans to our deal but I feel like not knowing is the most fun part of any game. What do you think?"
He considered his response to such a statement. "You'll be playing a game against an Imperium that rules a million worlds filled with humans, whether they are all acknowledged and modernized or not. Their armies lose billions each year yet they have the numbers to replace them. If only they weren't blinded by their idiotic worship of the dead Emperor who sits on his Golden Throne as nothing but machinery and bones, then they would be a most terrible galactic power."
Yggdra gave a happy sigh, as if breathing the purest air after having gotten off his ship… despite still being on this ship. From that reaction alone, Typhus gleaned a lot of information about her character. She was a being of much power who was always looking for the next exciting event in her life. Just how much warfare and powerful entities has she faced to emit such a response to a future enemy? Typhus almost didn't want to know.
However, there was still something he had to know...
SWISH!
A quick, massive swing of his scythe with all his strength was aimed down at her head.
CLANG!
To his disbelief, his scythe connected but failed to even pierce her scalp. It didn't even draw blood. The next thing he noticed was that her eyes were looking at him with slight interest but complete dismissal. She had let the attack connect!
Swish!
With a movement faster than his eyes could track, she turned and swung her outstretched hand at the motor of his scythe.
CRRINNG!
To his horror, her dainty, scar-less hand utterly destroyed his scythe. The motor that had serviced his mechanical scythe for over ten thousand years… destroyed. The staff, wood grown and nourished from Nurgle's very own personal garden… splintered. His iconic, most favored, and signature weapon was destroyed before his eyes with a swing of the hand. Not even Rogal Dorn's Storm's Teeth chainsword had done such damage after a duel that lasted for hours.
That same hand reached out and gripped his right hand, the grip shattering the ancient and corrupted metal of his Power Armor like it was an ice cube. With a pull, she brought his mass down towards her and with a kick to his chest that dented and shattered the chest plate, the force ripped him from his still-clutched arm while his body flew across the bridge and slammed into the festering wall. To his thankfulness, this rotted body of his could not feel pain. From his wound, maggots and slimy green muscles rotted and dank poured and hung from his socket.
He lied there, slumped against the wall, utterly dominated in but a couple of moves. It was a bitter lesson in humility, but he had learned all he needed to know.
"I had to find out your strength." His armor shuddered and rusted pieces crumbled under the abuse of her attack. "You will be… a terrifying player in this game." His mind was finally coming down from the high of being disarmed.
"No need to make excuses. I have done similar things, only to greater successes than yours." He could feel her smirk as she inspected his arm. With a toss, it flew into his belly. "Move your ship out of the barrel and at least four hundred miles from the muzzle's direction or your ship will be crushed by the energy backlash. Remember, your fleet still dies." A pink flash and a floating robot that looked like a large eyeball appeared beside her. "This will record the event and transmit it the moment you exit the Warp again. It has a self-destruct feature of two Teratons should it be tampered with. You can also use it should you need to contact me. I will be very busy for the next few decades, so do not use it unless it's important for me."
He was impressed since it was about the size of an Ork's head.
With a pink flash, she disappeared. His ship was quick to ask of his status and he gave a chuckle as a few corrupted servitors flew to his body to repair the damage. "You heard her, Friend. Move this ship out of the way. Hopefully, we can catch the event ourselves."
With the ship piloting itself, the Terminus Est retreated from the cannon and he got his first look at Outer Heaven and couldn't help but believe in his worst concerns towards this species as it was accompanied by an armada of thousands. "Definitely a terrifying opponent." He watched as the cannon fired. The light was brilliant and he had to look away but by then, all he was able to catch was a streak of light the size of a country entering the Warp, its very entrance destabilizing the rift and causing it to close.
The ship then shot another beam and made a massive portal similar to what blocked his communication with Nurgle and watched as the ship and several thousands of the ships left real space through it. He gave the ship the command as Nurgle opened him a Warp portal to enter it and they disappeared, leaving the Valkyrian colony's space, chuckling at the no-doubt gaping faces of the Eldars sitting and watching from far away in their ships of Wraithbone. In the Warp, where time and space was regularly broken at the whims of the Chaos God, he got a front row view to Tzeentch's Crystal world from a million miles away, the image enlarged on his ship's view port, as a massive but briefly instant beam of light appeared from a war rift mere thousands of miles from the planet.
The impact was astronomical as the planet rippled like a shockwave in a pool before simply imploding, then that was followed by the truly "no matter how you describe it, it will always be an understatement" massive explosion the likes of a supernova that engulfed the planet's remains, including the tens of thousands of warships parked in orbit. As the explosion made its way towards him at thousands of miles per second, Nurgle opened him a portal that took him back into the Materium realm, closing behind his exit.
He sat there for a moment before doing something he hasn't done in millennia. He took off his helmet, revealing his rotted face, and busted out in raw, disgusting laughter, puss and mucus erupting from his mouth like vomit due to the internal damages his chest took from Yggdra's attack. He didn't care as he would recover, but he was going to have to disable his vox box on his suit the next time he met any Chaos Sorcerer like Ahriman. He laughed for whole minutes that turned to hours when a pre-recorded message left in the strange Valkyrian machine told him that while the main functions of the cannon were under her control, she gave the mental trigger to her baby and she fired the cannon when she physically burped.